Two days after the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Board of Control announced the state would proceed with a fall sports season, high school athletics in the state ground to a halt Friday afternoon.

A statement from the CIAC called for a stop to all in-person fall sports activities at this time, while the organization further confers with the Connecticut Department of Public Health over proper COVID-19 protocols.

“Following review of the DPH’s detailed position on fall interscholastic athletics, the CIAC Board of Control has taken action to pause all fall sport activities at this time,” CIAC executive director Glenn Lungarini said in a video-recorded statement. “That includes conditioning that has taken place since July 6 in accordance with the DPH recommendation.

“The CIAC will continue to review DPH’s detailed position in the coming weeks and have extended an invitation to DPH to meet with our medical advisers to better understand their positions as well as the data that supports the position they have taken for interscholastic sports.”

Earlier in the week, the state-wide committee for each fall sport was asked to meet and determine whether or not that particular sport could be played safely.

The football committee voted to recommend that the season be moved to the spring, while all of the other sport committees, field hockey, soccer, cross country, volleyball and swimming, were in favor of proceeding with a fall season.

The CIAC Board of Control announced after meeting Wednesday that fall sports, including football, would go forth with a condensed, regionalized fall sports season beginning Sept. 24. Conditioning for football was set to begin Monday.

Suddenly, confusion set in.

On Thursday, the same day the Eastern Connecticut Conference announced its football schedule, a letter from the Department of Public Health addressed to Lungarini surfaced recommending that the CIAC either push football (deemed higher risk) and volleyball (moderate risk) to the spring or cancel them altogether.

On Friday, the Board of Control met again to discuss the communication with DPH and came forth with the stoppage of all in-person contact.